The Second Act

You would think that any sane family who was used to a small Cocker Spaniel would have more than enough dog with a seventy-five pound Chessie. That is where our #2 child, Ryan, comes into play. That is Ryan pictured on the left.

After we had Nikki for a year and a half and

our Cocker Spaniel was no longer with us #2 child was going to leave for college. In the spring of Ryan's senior year, Ron was out in the yard with Nikki when Maxine, a swim coach who also raised chessies, stopped by. (You might be able to tell from his picture Ryan is a swimmer. He was perfecting his butterfly stroke at the age of one.)

Although Maxine coached in a neighboring district, we had gotten to know her fairly well through Ryan and Chessies. The reason she stopped that fateful spring day was to offer Ron another puppy. Her breeder was having another litter and giving them away. Ron immediately replied, "No, we're good."

He made his mistake when he came in the house and mentioned the generous offer to the rest of the family. Needless to say we were not in agreement with him. To the rest of us, Nikki seemed lonely without Lady. Ryan would be leaving soon - even though he would only be five miles away at Gannon University. And Nikki was Ron's dog. She could stay outside with him all day. She loved to run in the field looking for pheasant and she loved to swim. Another dog would mean at least some of the time it would seem like I had a dog.

If you read yesterday's blog, I mentioned that I was persistent. Well, an appl

e does not fall far from the tree. Persistence is one of the few good traits our children picked up from me. We all knew Ron needed another dog before he knew. It's either that or he is really shrewd and wanted us to think the second dog was our idea.

Before the summer was over, persistence or shrewdness paid off. Maxine delivered #2 puppy, a chocolate brown Chessie. My brother Jim was visiting from North

Carolin

a when the puppy arrived. He actually came up with the name, Bodie. Our puppy was named after a lighthouse in NC. Apropos for a Chesapeake Bay Retriever

Bodie was a beautiful dog and carried himself as if he knew it. He

wasn't much of a hunter, but with his looks who need to hunt

He was also the sweetest, most loving dog we had ever had but more important than that he was a chick magnet.

With both of the kids gone, I was a little worried about socializing the new pup. The house was no longer full of teenagers and we were no longer spending as much time at soccer games or track meets - dogs aren't really welcome at swim meets.

I did not need to worry, because unlike his sister Ryan did look back or at least he would regularly stop at the house for a few minutes-long enough to pick up Bodie. He usually had at least one college coed with him. He wasn't much of an artist so his line must have been, "Would you like to meet my puppy?" It seemed to work for him.

If you are a little concerned Nikki might not like the idea of a puppy in the house - not to worry. Lady had set a good example of how to treat a new dog. We did not even bother sending Bo to puppy preschool. We let Nikki handle all his training. She did not train him to be as smart as she was. She let him play the role of the lover. Everybody lov

ed Bo and he loved everybody!

Bo and Nikki were great companions. They made the move to Minnesota much more palatable for Ron and me. They also taught us how to spoil dogs. We actually bought a house on the

Mississippi River so they could go swimming any time they wanted as long as it wasn't 20 below. We also purchased a leather couch so they could get up on it and keep us warm on those long, cold MN nights. Nothing like cuddling with a eighty pound dog who puts its twenty pound head in your lap.

Nikki lived the longest. She was ten when she died. Since then, I've learned ten is within the range of average for a Chessie. It did not seem long enough to us. The lover boy, Bo, did not fair as well. He only lived to be seven but they were seven happy years. We miss them both so that is part of the answer to question, "Why are you getting a puppy?"